Police Chase Forces Amarillo Schools Into ‘Secure Mode’

When we send our kids to school in Amarillo, we're anticipating that they'll be safe from harm, and we don't have to worry about them.

However, the number of times my kids have come home from school and said they had a lockdown drill, or unexpectedly went into lockdown mode, can be a bit unsettling. We know the lockdown drills are for their safety, though, and that makes us feel a bit better.

Rash Of False Alarms

It seems lately, there have been a ton of false alarms popping off at the schools around town. I know for sure that both of my boys' schools have had false alarms this school year, and one of them has had multiple false alarms.

This sends the kids and teachers into an unnecessary mode of panic, and it's these things that can scar them. Now, I don't mind the extra practice in case the real thing happens, but the false alarms are becoming a bit much. Furthermore, we need to determine what we're ACTUALLY locking down schools for.

Police Chase Leads To 'Secure Mode'

Yesterday, there was a police chase that triggered what is called 'secure mode' for AISD. What is secure mode? Long story short, all doors are locked and secured, and no one is allowed in or out of the school for as long as they're in secure mode.

Now, I've never heard of a police chase putting a school in lockdown mode, but here we are. Allegedly, the suspect had stolen a car and was being run down by police. Apparently, AISD felt it was unsafe and didn't want anyone out on the roads and potentially in the way of danger. Kudos to them for that, but to place the whole district on lockdown seemed a bit extreme.